Instead, they must appeal to God for guidance. Rather than seek success on earth, for the Spirit: "my ambition lies above." The Spirit replies to every temptation made by the Flesh with a reference to the world above. Although the two are sisters within the same human family, the Spirit is confident that she will triumph over the Flesh. Perhaps the most powerful imagery of the poem is the reversal of the conventional image of humankind as slaves of fleshy desire. When the Spirit triumphs: "When I am victor over thee, / and Triumph shall, with laurel head, / When thou my Captive shalt be led." Lest the reader think that the pull between love of the world and its beauties, and the pull to a higher calling was one that Bradstreet merely created for instruction, According to the Bradstreet critic and biographer Ann Woodlief, this inner conflict often tormented Bradstreet: "One must remember that she was a Puritan, although she often doubted, questioning the power of the male hierarchy, even questioning God (or the harsh Puritan concept of a judgmental God)....
Her love of nature and the physical world, as well as the spiritual, often caused creative conflict in her poetry. Though she finds great hope in the future promises of religion, she also finds great pleasures in the realities of the present, especially of her family, her home and nature (though she realized that perhaps she should not, according to the Puritan perspective).
Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor The popular notion that the Puritans were wholly focused on their religion is not much of an exaggeration. Even a casual exploration of writing from the colonial period in America underscores this thematic dominance: Puritan authors felt duty-bound to use their writing to support believers to stay the righteous course. The Puritans believed that life on earth was test of faith in God and an opportunity
Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Whatley, Emily Dickinson part a developing tradition American women poets. Discuss significant differences similarities . N.B.: The sources provided writing. One thing I'd simple original. Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Whatley, and Emily Dickinson are some of the most representative female American writers that have had a significant contribution to American literature as we know it today. Despite their undisputed role in American literature, the three writers are bound by
Bradstreet also wrote about her fear of death and whether her husband might remarry. "Through her dread of dying in childbirth lets us see that her deeper fear is a jealous one that her husband might remarry," (Hensley xxiii). Bradstreet's description of childbirth as being a shade away from death shows what life was like for women in the colonies. "The last month of pregnancy was not only a
/My garments are not silk nor gold,/nor such like trash which Earth doth hold,/but Royal Robes I shall have on,/More glorious than the glist'ring Sun./My Crown not Diamonds, Pearls, and gold,/but such as Angels' heads infold./the City where I hope to dwell,/There's none on Earth can parallel./the stately Walls both high and trong/Are made of precious Jasper stone,/the Gates of Pearl, both rich and clear,…/the Streets thereof transparent gold/Such as
The Flesh attempts to tempt her sister, the Spirit, with physical wealth and beauty. She argues that meditation alone is not enough to live on, and that earth cannot be divorced from the spirit. Bradstreet however demonstrates that there is a basic imbalance in this view. Flesh does not argue for a balance between the Flesh and the Spirit, but rather suggests that the world of the Flesh is
The literary techniques used in both poems help deliver the message of unending and perfect love. The intended audience is different for each poem; in "To My Dear and Loving Husband," the poet is speaking directly to her husband as opposed to making a more declarative statement as we see in "How Do I Love Thee." Bradstreet is speaking directly to her husband and Browning is speaking to readers. This
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